If you read our latest APositive insights powered by RIBreport, you will know small recruitment agencies in Australia are suffering a declining headcount, which is holding back annual sales and sales growth.
This is despite the industry enjoying a busy period – in fact, an additional $141 million in sales was recorded by 115 Australian recruitment agencies in the 12 months to April 2017, according to Ribreport.
So, what’s the problem when we know recruitment agencies can attract and retain great staff.
The catch is, small recruitment agencies are actively prioritising filling orders ahead of growing their team. This is leading to a decline in headcount – and, ultimately, a drop in annual sales.
What’s more, agencies are left with tired and frazzled team members and could be faced with the problem of having to kick start good internal recruiting practices when the market slows.
Instead, smaller firms must always prioritise internal recruitment and retention as a high ranking, business-critical activity – even when fully staffed.
This means having suitable team members in the wings so that when someone leaves, you can fill the gap quickly and seamlessly, or have the talent available when you are ready to grow.
To help attract – and retain – the right people to your recruitment agency consider these factors:
1: Set time aside for staffing strategies
Regardless of how busy you are, try to devote a set number of hours per week to focus on internal recruitment. The goal is to grow the people and the business, not wear them out and expect them to do more as the team diminishes. Yes, the team may rise to the occasion, but if it happens too often this goodwill will end, and without notice.
2: Going too general
Don’t just rely on ad responses from SEEK or the R2R firms, quickly devote time to think about how you should change your attraction strategies and methods so that you lure the right people to your door.
3: Shake up your recruitment process
Look for ways to refresh your internal recruitment process – make it a challenging but rewarding one. By not moving with the times you could be driving the right people away.
4: Yes, it’s personal
In the majority of cases, the owner of an agency is the main reason why people want to join your business – they often see great appeal in learning from your knowledge and experience. Try to turn this strong point of difference into a compelling attraction that comes to life through your actions, words and promises during the recruitment process.
5: Take declining headcounts seriously
There’s no doubt the larger firms are throwing more time and money at recruitment to ensure they attract the right people. In short, they are treating the issue of declining headcounts as a serious matter that must be resolved. Smaller firms can – and should – do the same.
